JOHN GILES FOUNDATION

Left to right: FAI VP Tony Fitzgerald, Lord Mayor Cllr Michael O'Connell and John Giles Foundation Project Manager Noel Mooney.

John Giles celebrates his 70^th birthday this Saturday and he is the man giving out presents. His Foundation has something for everyone.

“Over the years football has been very good to me. I grew up, like many of us did, playing on the street. Back then you could, it was a lot safer. But today, it’s a different story, with different rules, and if our young people are to meet the new challenges facing them they are going to need our support.”

The Vision: The John Giles Foundation shall use the power of football to play a central role in creating stronger, safer and friendlier communities throughout Ireland, making opportunities a right, not a privilege.

News of the venture, and of the amount of work that has been already done, was brought to the City Hall last night where former Cork City keeper Noel Mooney of the FAI and the Project Manager for the Foundation, made a presentation before the Lord Mayor, guests from the world of football, including FAI vice-president Tony Fitzgerald, and the local press.

The John Giles Foundation “Walk of Dreams” is the foundation’s first major national fund-raising project and it is proposed that it will take place on Sunday March 27^th, 2011, in locations throughout the country with the main event occurring in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.

This will involve all the local football clubs and their supporters and, with well over four hundred thousand people regularly involved in football, the march should be well supported.

Further details will be firmed up in due course so watch this space.

In the meantime, happy birthday Mr Giles!